Awake in Between, in Pieces
by lil-rock14
Summary: While he doubted his ability to lead such a diverse group of soldiers, everyone knew that he was more than capable. He never could leave a soldier behind.
1. Chapter 1

**Awake in Between in Pieces**

**So, I just finished watching both seasons of Dark Angel on DVD, and I realized why I was so angry when I first saw the series finale. It left nothing resolved. I'm not going to say that this story will resolve any of those things, but maybe a few. I just have one problem with one how one of the episodes turned out. This story might be ongoing because eventually, I might want to resolve all of the unresolved issues from the show. Who knows?**

Summary: While he doubted his ability to lead such a diverse group of soldiers, everyone knew that he was more than capable. He never could leave a soldier behind.

**Disclaimer: I own the twins and the idea behind this story. If a character is canon, it isn't mine.**

Terminal City, Washington. The home to more than seventy-five percent of the transgenics that were let loose on the world. And more transgenics were making their way to the city every day. It was their safe haven, but they knew that even within the walls and fences of the city, they were never completely safe. In the twenty-two weeks since the Jam Pony incident, the riots had calmed down, but attacks by Familiars had doubled. Their effort to get rid of the transgenics had become desperate.

Detective Ramon Clemente worked with Max to find a way for the transgenics and humans to live peacefully. Max, with the help of Eyes Only, exposed Senator McKinley as a leader of the real enemy, driving him from his position of power. The humans and transgenics were working toward a resolution. Slowly, the humans realized that although they looked different and had abilities, they were just trying to protect their own and they weren't so different.

The humans backed down from their public displays of dislike of transgenics. The humans realized that the transgenics didn't have a choice in being born the way that they were. And they were born from surrogates, so that made them human enough. The humans fear of transgenics subsided when the Familiars were finally outed three months after the Jam Pony incident.

With all of the convincing that Max had to do with the humans, she had to spend less time in Terminal city, often times leaving the city leaderless.

Alec was named Max's second in command. But he turned down the position offers stubbornly for the first few weeks. He would have kept turning down the position if the Familiars hadn't launched their first attack on the city.

With Max leading soldiers of the X-series to protect the city, she left the base and everyone in it unsure of what to do. Naturally, they turned to Alec, and all the reluctance to become a leader disappeared. He started barking orders like he used to back in Manticore and everyone followed. While he doubted his ability to lead such a diverse group of soldiers, everyone knew that he was more than capable. The end of that battle was a victory for the most part. Injuries, but no deaths on their side.

And Terminal City had gained Alec McDowell as a leader.

But with all of the new leadership responsibilities, came lost hours of sleep every night.

Sleep that he was trying to catch up on when he was so rudely awaken by someone shaking him. He groaned as his eyes slowly peeled open. He was greeted by his scaly friend's face two inches away from his own. "Alec?"

"What do you want, Mole?" he groaned, trying to roll away from him.

"Your young ones aren't in Terminal City."

The X-5 could not believe that he was getting woken up because some kids. "Not my problem," Alec replied, throwing a pillow over his head.

"I believe they are."

"Tell Max to handle them."

"Alec," Mole said disapprovingly.

They both knew that Max wasn't good with the younger ones in Terminal City. The younger X-series generations still had it in their minds that Max was a traitor, but many of them were slowly getting over it. Even so, they took an easier liking to Alec instead. He had more fun than Max did and the younger ones appreciated that.

The X-5 rolled over and looked at his friend. "Which young ones?"

"The twins," Mole replied.

Alec sat up quickly, his back protesting the movement for a moment then passed. "What? Are you kidding me?"

"Hardly," Mole replied. "I don't kid."

Alec swung his legs over the side and rubbed his eyes. "Who'd they get passed?" he yawned.

"Luke and Dix."

"What are they doing standing guard?" Alec asked, looking up at him.

"Not my business," Mole said, taking a drag of his cigar. "But according to those two boneheads, the kids did it with such finesse that it couldn't have been their first time leaving TC."

"Those are my kids," Alec said proudly.

"Okay, hot stuff, while you're sitting here beaming with pride and filling yourself with hot air, two transgenic kids are running around Seattle without supervision."

Alec finally made his way to his feet. "I got it." He threw on his jacket and looked at his friend. "Lead the way." And he followed Mole out of the room.

When they got to the perimeter where Luke and Dix were standing guard, the sun had just peeked over the horizon. The looks on Luke and Dix's faces were relieved but scared to see the X-5. "Alec," Luke greeted. "Hey."

"Whatever apologies you have to say to me for waking me up from my nap, I don't want to hear it. Can somebody please tell me how two X-8 kids got passed you two?"

"Honestly?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, honestly."

"Well, the boy, he can charm the pants off of anyone. And his sister? Well, she is the sneakiest little thing alive." Alec looked at the transhumans incredulously. "Don't give us that look, Alec. You've fallen for those twin's tricks before." The X-5 smiled at those words. "You can't get mad at us for letting them get through."

"What are you doing standing guard anyway?" Alec asked.

"We lost a bet," Dix replied.

"Against?" Alec asked.

"That would be me," Mole said proudly.

"So, you're partially to blame for this," Alec said looking at his scaly friend.

"Sure," Mole replied. "It was worth it to win that bet."

Alec groaned. "You sound mad," Dix said.

"I'm not mad."

"It's just that when she looks at you with those hazel eyes and her brother has his charm game up to ten, then you're screwed."

"They'll be back," Mole said. "Just let them wander around. They look like regular kids." He didn't want them to waste their time on kids that would wander back into the city eventually.

"But they're not," Alec replied. "You know that, and I know that. And there are a lot more Familiars wandering around waiting to catch one of us. What if White finds them?"

"Then the brother-sister trouble twins will have to get out of their own mess," Mole replied, unconcerned.

"Right," Alec said with much skepticism. "What did they tell you guys for you to let them through?"

"Nothing," Luke replied. "They just caught us off guard."

"Are you really going to just leave them out there?" Dix asked.

Alec shook his head. "No. I'll go get them." He jogged a few steps away from the three transhumans and smirked at them. He sped up and jumped over the fence. He looked up and saw the sun peek through the clouds before it disappeared. "Just make sure that Max doesn't find out."

"You got it, boss," Luke said.

"Don't call me boss," Alec replied. He hated titles. He only used them when he needed something done and done right. "And don't let anyone else get passed the gate."

Alec turned and started walking away from TC. "What time can we expect you back?" Mole asked.

Alec turned around and saw a puff of smoke in front of Mole's face. "Don't worry about it. Maybe me and the twins might go for a jog in the park." With his transgenic hearing, he heard the three of them let out a short laugh. With that, he blurred away.

**Okay, so here is a Dark Angel story. I guess I started writing this because I have a need to save people or to find some closure. Here is the first chapter. Please no flames. Thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own the twins and the other characters that you've never heard of before. Everybody else belongs to the creators of the show.**

Alec made his way through Sector 5 searching for the two kids. Searching for two kids in a worn down Seattle was hard enough without them having the added transgenic abilities. Throw in a little DNA from various animals, and it was trying to find two new needles in a pile of rusty ones. He could've really used Joshua's help to sniff the two of them out, but the kids were his problem, and he took full responsibility for them.

Especially these two.

A month after the Jam Pony incident, the boy and girl twins made their way to Terminal City. They came full of energy and trouble and the two had taken an instant liking to Alec. The feeling was reciprocated. He saw a lot of himself in the two of them, and it made him proud to be their role model.

These X-8s were different from the bat bred multiples of one. They were bred just like the rest of the X-series, in a surrogate. There had to be something special about these two because they were kept together and put in the same unit. It probably had to do with the fact that there weren't many boy-girl twins born in the later X-series. From that moment, they never spent a minute apart. And they weren't like every other soldier bred in Manticore. It was almost as if Manticore wasn't able to completely dig their claws into these two.

And when they were together, they got into trouble that Alec could only dream of, like sneaking out of Terminal City and getting caught. But he knew those kids better than anyone else. "Okay, so I'm the twins," he whispered to himself. "Where would I go?"

He sighed and looked up to the cloudy sky. "Everywhere," he groaned.

After about half an hour of searching through the Sector he sat down, tired and irritated. He contemplated just heading back to TC, taking a nap, and thinking of what he'd say to lecture them about leaving TC unattended. "That's the pot calling the kettle black." He ran his hand down his face in frustration. "I sound like a worried mother."

He wandered around the Sector for a few more minutes. He was about to give up when he heard the sound of something crashing in an alleyway a few blocks away. "Nadia, jump," he heard a little boy yell.

Alec ran into the alley and saw a little girl jump from a second story fire escape onto a closed dumpster with extraordinary grace. The girl jumped off the dumpster and landed next to the boy standing next to it. "Nadia. Aidan," Alec said in his best scolding voice.

The two of them looked toward the entrance of the alley and smiled. "Oh, we're in trouble," Aidan said. "Showtime."

"Daddy!" Nadia said blurring toward the X-5.

Daddy. A running joke that the inhabitants of Terminal City. When the twins came joined the other transgenics in the city, the first thing that many of them thought was that someone had taken Alec's genes and spliced them into these kids. Especially since the girl's eyes and the boy's hair matched perfectly with Alec's. Mole was the first person to make the joke, and for some reason, it stuck. And Alec didn't do anything to fight it.

A second later, a mop of black hair was and tiny arms were wrapped around his legs. "Don't you 'daddy' me, Nadia." He looked at her brother sauntering over to them. "And no trying to sweet-talk your way out of this one, Aidan." Nadia let go of Alec and smiled. "What the hell are you guys doing outside the perimeter?"

"Retrieval," Aidan replied.

"For what?"

Nadia punched her brother in the shoulder. "Nothing. It's just so boring in TC. Needed to get out."

"She's lying," Aidan countered, rubbing his shoulder.

"Aidan, shut up."

"He's going to find out anyway. He found us, didn't he?"

"That's not the point. He wasn't supposed to—"

"He's right here," Alec interrupted. "Is someone going to tell me what's going on, or am I going to have to order you."

"We don't have to take orders from you. You said only when in combat."

"It's like talking to myself," Alec mumbled under his breath. "Aidan, I'm really tired, and I'd really appreciate it if I could just take you two back to TC so I can get some sleep before Max has me doing whatever she doesn't want to do herself."

"But we haven't seen—"

"Nadia," Aidan interrupted harshly, stopping his sister from saying any more.

"Who were you guys going to see?" He looked to Nadia knowing that she was more likely to spill than her brother.

"A… scientist," she said cautiously. She looked to her brother for approval of her answer. Aidan answered with a nod. Alec stayed silent and waited for her to add anything else. The older X-5 stared at the younger female and challenged her to try and lie to him. She groaned and rolled her eyes at him. "Fine."

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a vial full of a thick, red liquid. "Is that blood?" Alec said, snatching it out of her hand.

"Don't drop it!" the twins yelled together.

"Why do you have a vial of blood in your pocket?"

"It's Max's blood. We took it after the last fight," Nadia said.

"We want to take it to someone who we think can isolate the virus or find a way to recreate it. And put it in someone else."

"And all we'd need is his DNA."

"Who are you guys talking about?" Alec asked. He caught that Nadia said his and not her. And Alec didn't know which male that she was talking about.

"White," the twins replied.

"It should be easy," Nadia said with a smile.

"Right," Alec started incredulously. "So, you're basically telling me that it's as easy as getting Logan's blood, cutting White, pouring Logan's blood on the wound, and then making Max touch him."

The twins stared at him dumbfounded. "No," Aidan replied, shaking himself out of his trance. "That sounds way too easy."

"And I don't think that's even possible." Nadia looked to her twin. "Is it?"

"Look, it doesn't matter if it's possible or not," Alec replied, stopping the twins from going on a tanget. "So, you two have found a scientist from Manticore that Logan couldn't even find."

"Not really," Aidan said.

"Can I have it back now?" Nadia asked, holding her hand out to him.

"Are you afraid that I'm going to drop it?" Alec challenged, his eyebrows raised.

"Eventually," Aidan replied with a smug smile tugging at his lips.

"But I'm not the one jumping from second story fire escapes onto dumpsters."

"Cat DNA, always land on all fours," Aidan said proudly.

"Kid DNA, injury prone," Alec retorted.

Aidan hand went to his heart and he feigned pain. "Touché," Aidan laughed. "One point for the X-5."

"I'll hold onto this," Alec said, tucking the vial into his jacket pocket. "So, let's go see this scientist."

"Later," Nadia said quickly. Too quickly.

"Why later, Nadia?"

"Yeah, why later, Nadia?" Aidan added.

She resisted the urge to punch her twin in the face. Her silence told the two boys that she couldn't think of an excuse fast enough. And Alec could see it in her eyes. "Is the cure really why you two are out here?"

"Yes," Nadia answered, while her brother replied, "No."

"She's lying to you again," Aidan replied. "The cure is like forty percent of it."

"So, what's the other sixty," Alec asked. Nadia walked around Alec and started down the street. Her brother was soon at her side. "Twins," he groaned jogging after them.

"Visiting someone," Aidan asked.

"Who?"

"No one special," Nadia replied.

"Tell him."

"No, you tell him."

"You're the one who wanted Row and Kwan to dress as cops and get him."

"He wasn't dead," Nadia hissed. "If he follows us, he'll see."

At that point, Alec was confused about who the twins were talking about. "You wanted Row and Kwan to risk their butts. That makes it your responsibility to tell him."

"I'll fight you for it," Nadia suggested.

The two X-8s stopped abruptly in front of the X-5 that he almost tripped over them. "Fine," Aidan replied. The two of them got into their fighting stances in the middle of the sidewalk and glanced at the oldest among them. "Alec, say when."

Alec looked around to see if there were any ordinaries around. "No." Alec placed himself between the twins. "Stand down. We aren't supposed to be attracting attention to ourselves." When the two of them didn't stand down he rolled his eyes. He didn't expect them to listen on his first try. "914. 915. Stand down," he ordered in the booming voice he knew would get their attention.

"Sir," they replied and got into a relaxed stance.

"Now, who are you guys talking about? Both of you guys tell me or I'll leave you guys to follow Max around for a week," he threatened.

"Is that an order, sir?" Aidan spat, a little angry that Alec used his officer tone on them.

"Yes," Alec replied. He regretted using that tone on them, but he really didn't want the two to be talking around him anymore.

Aidan sighed. If it were any other person giving him the order, he would've easily ignored or challenged it. But it was Alec. And not matter how pissed he was, he wasn't going to disobey a direct order from him. He looked to his sister. "On three?" She responded with a nod. "One."

"Two."

"Three," they whispered. They nodded in synch. "Biggs."

Alec blinked a couple of times, unsure if he heard them correctly. They nodded to show that they were telling the truth. "What?" Alec choked out. And it felt as though his transgenic heart stopped beating in his chest.

**Here's the next chapter. I had to save Biggs. I just had to. I have a weird compulsion to save characters when I can manipulate the story so it was possible that they didn't die. I hope you're all right with that. Thanks to everyone reading this. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own the characters that you haven't heard of before.**

The three transgenics stood in a triangle waiting for the fallout of the bomb that just dropped. "Biggs is alive?" Alec whispered.

"More or less," Nadia replied.

"What does that mean?" Alec asked. "How can someone be more or less alive?"

"Coma," Nadia replied.

"Why is he in a coma?"

"Maybe it has to do with the beating that he received," Aidan replied and started to walk down the street. His twin and Alec followed him. "He needs a blood transfusion. Nadia and me tried, and so did Row and Kwan. Didn't help at all. Guess the blood needs to be from another X-5."

"I'm an X-5. Why didn't you tell me about this?" Alec pressed.

"When?" Aidan asked, spinning around to face Alec, but continuing to walk backward down the street. "You and all the other X-5's in TC have been busy keeping everyone safe and in the city, making sure we eat, and all that good stuff," Aidan replied. "There was no time."

"Yeah," Nadia agreed. "It was a bitch getting out of the perimeter this week."

"You're not allowed to say bitch," Alec said, pointing to the female twin.

"You say it all the time," Nadia argued.

"I'm allowed to."

"Why? Because you're older?" Aidan asked.

"No," Alec replied. "Because I'm the second-in-command at base." He gave the twins a smile. "And because I'm older. And what do you guys mean this week? You guys are able to sneak off of base every week?"

"Yes," they replied.

"Take me to see him."

"Yes, sir," they replied.

The two of them led the way down Sector 5. "So, you guys could've gotten any other X-5 to do the transfusion." The twins nodded. "Why didn't you?"

"Because we thought that you would've wanted to be the one to save him," Aidan replied.

"Is it bad that we did that?" his sister asked.

"No," Alec whispered. "Thanks for telling me first."

The three of them stopped at the entrance of an alley that looked impossible to get into because of all the garbage that filled it. The twins grabbed a stack of crates and moved them out of the way revealing a small opening for them to get through.

The twins easily squeezed through the opening. Alec, on the other hand, had a harder time fitting through the little tunnel. When he finally made it into the alley, he saw the twins waiting at a door for him. "We're here," Nadia said.

Alec pounded on the entrance to the building. The twins winced at attention the knocking would bring this early in the morning. "Open up," Alec commanded.

The door creaked open revealing a suspicious pair of eyes. "Who the hell are you?" the person on the other side of the door replied.

"Row!" Nadia squealed.

The door flew open and Nadia jumped into the person's arms. "Nadia!" he replied happily. "Hey. Is he with you two?"

"He followed us," Aidan replied.

The man the twins called Row looked at least ten years older than Alec. "Followed you? You guys never get caught," Row said. "Unless you wanted to get caught this week."

"Yeah," Nadia replied. "We wanted him to join in on the fun."

"So, you told him about the patient," he said as a statement and not as a question.

"We had to," Nadia replied.

"Was he holding a gun to your head?" Row asked. He knew that the twins didn't usually do what they were told the first time unless they had no other choice.

"Worse," Aidan replied. "He was going to make us shadow Max."

"I see." Row stepped out of the way and let the three of them enter the abandoned apartment. He turned to the X-5. "So, you're here to see Biggs."

"He's really alive," Alec said quietly.

"Comatose, but alive," Row said locking every lock on the door.

"How is he still in a coma? The incident was months ago. He should be up and walking by now."

"He should be, but we don't know why he isn't awake. The only thing we can think of to help is a blood transfusion. I'm guessing that's where you come in."

"Yeah."

"X-5. A great series," Row said admiringly.

But Alec didn't hear the praise the other X-series solder gave him. "Can I… can I see him?" Alec asked.

"Sure thing."

The four of them walked down the darkened hallway then down some darkened stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, another man met them there. "Kwan!" Nadia screeched, leaping down the last few stairs.

He easily caught the little girl and hugged her. "Hey, Kwan," Aidan said, trotting down the last few steps.

"Hey, twins. You two are later than usual," Kwan replied. He looked younger than Row, but older than Alec. "I was ready go leave this place and go looking for you."

"We got held up," Aidan said, pointing to the newcomer standing behind them.

"Hm…" Kwan started and looked over Alec, " X-494. I was wondering when I was going to have the pleasure of meeting you. The twins never seem to shut up about you."

Alec held out his hand. "I go by Alec now," he replied.

"Kwan," he replied, taking Alec's hand and shaking it firmly.

"Kwan, we brought you a present," Nadia said.

"What is it, little one?" he replied, putting her on the ground.

"Alec, give it to him," she said.

Alec reached into his pocket and grabbed the vial he put in it. He shook it a little before he fumbled the vial in his hands. Everyone in the room screamed, except Alec. He caught it and laughed. "Just kidding," Alec laughed.

"Not funny," Aidan replied.

Alec handed the vial off to Kwan. "Is this really her blood?" Kwan asked.

"Yes, sir," the twins replied.

"Good job, you two," Row said.

"Can you really figure out a cure?"

Row and Kwan turned and entered a room at the end of the hallway. The door opened and Alec saw that it was a makeshift lab. "The virus was first used on my series," Kwan replied, turning on a light. "We had to learn everything about it. And I mean everything."

He put the vial in a compartment to store the blood. "So, that's a yes," Alec said hopefully. He felt that he owed Max for being a reason she didn't get the cure when she had to choose between it and saving his life.

"It's a most likely," Kwan replied.

"Why?"

"I don't know if you realize this, but we aren't in Manticore anymore. We don't exactly have to tools needed to do all of this."

"Tell me what you need and I'll get it for you."

"We know. The twins told us about you and your supply runs. But it's dangerous looking for the supplies we need. We'd rather not risk the life of the second-in-command at Terminal City," Row said.

"I'm volunteering to do this."

"Well, don't," Row replied.

"What?"

"You could die," Nadia replied.

"And even if you say it's worth the risk, it isn't," Aidan asked. "You don't want to leave Terminal City with just Max leading it. We'd be better off outside the fences."

"You aren't leaving the city," Alec said.

"Well, who's going to stop us if you're dead," Nadia challenged.

The twins backed the X-5 into a corner. The weird part about it was that Nadia had the final say about it. Usually it was the male twin who stamped the end of a conversation.

Alec turned to the older soldiers, unable to take the victorious grins of the twins. "So, what series are you two?"

"Me?" Row asked. "X-3. Kwan is also an X-3. He's the medicine man."

"Medicine man. Biggs," he said remembering the reason he was in the abandoned apartment. He was so distracted with coming up with a cure for Max that Biggs had temporarily slipped his mind. "Where is he?"

Kwan stepped in the direction of a door on the other side of the room. "He's in that room," Kwan said, pointing at the door. "You sure you ready for this?"

"Now or never," Alec sighed. Kwan opened to door and stepped in. Alec reluctantly followed. He stepped in and his nose was assaulted with the awful smell of disinfectant. His eyes moved to follow the sound of beeping and he saw a person lying on the bed. It was the face of a person who had been with him on missions for years. The face of the person he thought was dead for months. "Biggs."

**Here is the next chapter to this story. Sorry for the long wait. This is part of my massive birthday post. Trying to update as many stories as I can before I go and celebrate. I know that not much went on, but I promise that all of this is just a set up. Thanks to all those who reviewed the previous chapter. I hope that this turned out all right. Thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock**


End file.
